Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Necrons – Ready or Not, Here They Come!


I’m Back!!!! Sorry I’ve been gone for the last two weeks but work has been kicking my ass and I haven’t had any urge to write honestly. I got a little burnt out towards the end of September and I think I’m finally starting to come out of it. Mostly due to the topic of this article….Necrons!

My information has come mostly from this article on Dakka and my thanks to Yakface there for providing so much info and to Kroothawk for keeping the front page updated: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/403994.page

So unlike my fellow author I’m really excited for this release. I’ve always love the image of the Necrons since they were released at the end of second edition. I collected them briefly when the codex came out in 3rd but found that I didn’t have enough to grip onto to drag me in. I hated the idea of C’tan’s (granted back then I was much more a holier than though fluff/comp bunny) and the army had so few models, so few opportunities for conversion, and such a lack of depth fluff-wise that I was turned off and sold my stuff to some friends.

Flash forward around 9ish years and I’m finally getting what I wanted. A fresh look at an old army that has an expanded model range and possibly a back story I can finally sink my teeth into. Some people lament the direction of the fluff and prefer the Necrons as a sort of mindless shambling horde but I pretty much have that in Bugs. A reawakening force dedicated to reconquering the galaxy because they deserve it is far more interesting. The back story now also allows for customized forces which weren’t really an option in the previous codex which means I can finally get to converting some cool looking mini’s for this.

Yak has done a great job in providing some minor details and pretty solid overview of what’s coming. Looking at what’s he’s got written I’m seeing most of the issues from the previous book being addressed. No more phase-out. Larger units for the dedicated CC units like Wraiths. More speed all over the book in the form of jump troops in elites and flyer transports. A change to the WBB to make it work in 5th and still make it a unique rule. Overall it looks very promising. I am away that more than a few people are already screaming that the Necrons won’t be able to compete or that GW never treats Xenos well (odd how short memories are in our hobby) but I’m reserving most of my thoughts until I see the book.

What I am seeing is a greater amount of synergy between units and a much larger toolbox than before. This codex appears to be shaping up like most 5th edition books which will allow for multiple builds and different approaches. I’ve got a combined arms approach I’m considering at this point based on the info available that’ll probably include 2 full units of wraiths (assuming 40ish pts each) because I’ve got a cool conversion for them that I’ve thought up.

I will say the one thing that upsets me about the new book is the Destroyers dropping from a possible 15 regular (which tons of players had) and 9 heavies (which some players had) has been reduced to a maximum of 9 total between the two for the army. They are normally smarter about allowing us to still use most of our models when the army gets redone even if it’s not always the best way to build a new force but this hurt a bit. Granted most of those people will be able to sell destroyers to other players or trade for new units but it’s still kinda crappy.

Based on the relatively light info I know I’m going to be playing Necrons. I’ve been waiting to add another Xenos that I feel like painting to my list of armies I play and this looks like a solid outlet. My FLGS will probably be happy as I’m going to be putting in a preorder from him for the codex, 4 boxes of Immortals, one box of Lychguard or Praetorians, and the command barge that I’ll probably build as the HS choice. Combined with my Battleforce I won at the Ardboys Semi’s I think I’ll be in good shape to start and will solidify my army once I’ve digested the book.

Well this article was just a big gush of why I’m looking forward to the Necrons and had little content honestly but I wanted to talk about it and it’s my blog J So what about you guys? Are you excited, meh, or disappointed with what’s coming?